Drawing attention to the state of affairs in Malaysia while on a visit to Australia, Fahmi urged Malaysians to work for free speech and hold the government accountable for its actions.

Fahmi is notorious for posting a drawing of Prime Minister Najib Razak as a clown on Instagram, for which he was charged in January 2016 under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
Fahmi was charged again for allegedly posting on Facebook a fake warning poster by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission that depicted an image of Najib in clown makeup.

Fahmi urged Malaysians in Australia to play a role in making Malaysians everywhere aware of the actions of the government to silence critics.

According to a report by the Special Broadcasting Services (SBS) network of Australia, Fahmi said: “We need to continue and never stop pushing. Our government officers – who pays their salary? It comes from taxpayers’ money, our own money.”

Speaking at Melbourne’s Multicultural Hub on Wednesday evening, Fahmi said he was trying to use his art as a weapon to push for change in Malaysia.

“Even graphic designers like me have been charged and have gone to trial for criticising the government and Najib using design and graphics,” Fahmi was quoted as saying.

According to SBS, Fahmi said he had depicted Najib as a clown “to show how absurd the whole (1MDB) scandal” was.

He added:”And the whole scandal, it made news all over the world, it turned the country into a joke.”

The SBS report also mentioned that political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, better known as ‘Zunar’, was facing nine charges for his cartoons and tweets.

Fahmi said he wanted to share his experience in Australia to encourage Malaysians there to join the social movement against the government which was using punitive measures to silence people.

He said even from Australia they could contribute by using the internet, including social media, according to SBS.